Business and Corporate Law

• Business Disputes
  Personal and business advice involves estate planning, wills, trusts, probate and estates, estate settlements, trust formation, administration and settlements, corporate, partnership and business law, tax law, and estate, gift, and generation skipping tax law. We assist clients in planning for wealth transfers during life and at death (estate and gift tax planning), succession planning, preparation and review of various documents and techniques, including wills, revocable trusts, charitable trusts, life insurance and other irrevocable trusts, family limited partnerships, and the administration of trusts and estates after death (including probate). We advise clients in asset and stock purchases and sales, mergers, and other business transactions. Our practice further involves planning for the formation, acquisition, operation, sale and dissolution of corporations, partnerships, joint ventures, limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships, and limited liability limited partnerships.
• Business Transactions
  Our firm focuses on legal advice for personal and business life-cycle events, as well as some business transactions and real estate transactions. We provide specialized advice in some probate and trust litigation matters.
• Limited Liability Companies
  Corporate, partnership, and business matters include legal advice (both tax and non-tax) involving the formation, operation and dissolution of business entities, including ‘S’ corporations, ‘C’ corporations, limited liability companies (‘LLCs’), limited partnerships (‘LPs’), limited liability limited partnerships (‘LLLPs’), professional entities including professional associations (‘PAs’) and professional limited liability companies (‘PLLCs’), and general partnerships. Our advice includes choice of entity questions, buying and selling businesses, and structuring of transactions.

Property Law

• Real Estate Litigation
  We have two offices to serve your needs, and are available for consultations and appointments. We also affiliate with other attorneys and professionals to assist with your case. If you would like more information about our practice or scheduling an appointment, or if we can assist you with a referral to another attorney, call us at your convenience. We look forward to the opportunity to assist you in planning, structuring, and organizing your personal and business affairs, real estate matters, and litigation and dispute resolution.
• Real Estate Transactions
  Prior to making any investment in real estate, it is important that entity selections are considered and the appropriate choice of entity is implemented for the investment. These decisions require consideration of our client’s investment goals, tax considerations, the type of property involved, available choices of entity, and lending implications. We provide representation to our clients by providing entity and tax structural advice in connection with real estate transactions. We draft and prepare many forms of partnership agreements, including the tax allocation and distribution provisions.

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  Our wills, trusts, and estates practice focuses on assisting clients with planning for the administration of their assets, both during life and after death. Estate Planning is a process, and must be coordinated with our client’s lifestyle and life cycle events. Estate Planning transcends relationships, and involves both same-sex and opposite-sex family arrangements. Family events such as births, marriages, and deaths, as well as changes in residence and domicile (either moving to a new home within the same area or to a new state entirely) often create the need to review estate plans and update applicable documents. First, second, and later marriages, and marriages involving separate children, all present different planning concerns. Title and succession planning for Florida homestead real property must be addressed.
• Wills
  The new tax laws also changed the approach to using what are commonly referred to as “AB” trusts. To attempt to utilize the first decedent’s estate exclusion (between a husband and a wife), many wills and trusts were drafted to include a Marital Trust (A trust) and a Credit Shelter or Family Trust (B trust). The Credit Shelter Trust bypasses the estate of the surviving spouse, thus utilizing the first decedent’s estate exclusion. Portability may eliminate the need for a Credit Shelter Trust on the first decedent’s death. New planning approaches pass all of the estate of the first decedent to the surviving spouse, or into a trust for the surviving spouse. Another option allows the surviving spouse to “disclaim” a portion of the first decedent’s estate. The decedent’s estate would then direct (the disclaiming surviving spouse cannot do so) that the disclaimed assets pass to a Credit Shelter Trust, effectively planning the estate of the first decedent after the first decedent’s death. These new planning alternatives may also yield better income tax results.
• Trusts
  Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts and Estates, Probate and Trust Administration, Corporations and Partnerships, Taxation, and Real Estate
• Power of Attorney
  Lifetime planning includes discussion and implementation of each client’s goals and objectives specific to their personal and financial situations and concerns. Trusts, both revocable and irrevocable, are sometimes involved, as well as other planning techniques. We also assist clients with lifetime decisions involving Durable Powers of Attorney, Living Wills, Health Care Surrogate Designations, and Designations of Pre-Need Guardian. This planning also includes discussion and implementation of choices involving children, including trusts for their benefit and guardians and powers of attorney for children in the event of the incapacity of a parent or guardian.
• Probate

Finance Law

• Tax Law
  Transfer tax planning includes estate taxes, gift taxes, and generation skipping transfer taxes. Income tax considerations must also be considered and coordinated. Our expertise in tax planning allows us to implement estate plans with a focus on transfer tax planning and income tax planning. Our plans range from simple to complex, and are tailored to meet each client's goals and objectives. We offer a personal touch to address client planning.